


Dandelion

by Haely_Potter



Series: Bending the Universe [19]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 21:32:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1956870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haely_Potter/pseuds/Haely_Potter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose notices two sad men on the park bench. As no one should be sad on such a pretty day, she tries to cheer them up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dandelion

There are two men sitting on the bench at the park, Rose Tyler noticed. One was incredibly sad and angry and tense, as if preparing to leave at any second. The other was also incredibly sad, but he wasn't angry from what Rose could see. Instead he had the same look as mum, when she talked about dad, the same hurt and longing radiating off him.

The men weren't talking to each other, just sitting there in silence. The first man was watching everything generally, like anyone would watch people they don't know, but the second kept looking at Rose, sometimes glancing at Mickey and mum.

Rose glanced around. No one else seemed to pay the men any attention. In fact, it was almost like they couldn't see the men at all, which was strange when she thought about it, especially considering how they were dressed. They both had long coats, the first one was a deep green velvet one, the second was a strange reddish brown seemingly from rough spun wool. The first one had dark, wavy hair, tied loosely behind his neck. The second had even darker hair that was floppy and fell in front of his eyes. From the distance Rose couldn't tell the color of their eyes.

She looked at her mum who was talking to Mickey's old gran. She wouldn't notice if Rose talked to the strangers and she could threaten Mickey to not to tell. She knew who'd eaten the extra-special cookies mum had brought to the party at Shareen's, and it hadn't been her.

With that in mind she got up from the sand box, noting how the second man with the floppy hair watched her, and went to she grassy part of the park. There were some dandelions that the council lawn mower hadn't been able to mow down and she picked the two prettiest ones.

Them in hand, glancing guiltily at mum, she made her way to the men and held out the dandelions to them, one in each hand.

”You shouldn't be sad on such a pretty day,” she told them with a bright smile.

The first man, with the wavy hair, stared at her like he didn't know what to make of her. It was like no one had been nice to him a long time, like no one had smiled at him for even longer. Like the dandelion she was holding was a fascinating alien.

The second man though, he smiled warmly, like he'd been most gladly surprised. The sadness and hurt in him faded slightly, and gently he took the dandelion she offered him.

”Why, right you are, little lady,” he said and Rose blushed at being called a lady. ”Thank you for the flower, it's very pretty.”

”Un, yes it is, it's the prettiest I could find,” she agreed, blush dusting her cheeks, and she looked into his eyes. They were green, a very nice color, she thought. Then she turned to the other man. ”This one's just as pretty, though,” she said and pushed the flower closer to the man's face.

He leaned slightly backwards and blinked at the flower in his face. ”Yes, indeed it is. It's so pretty you should keep it yourself,” he declined the flower, holding his hands up in a rejecting gesture.

Rose looked at him in the eyes, noting that they were bright blue, and smiled. ”Nah, I don't need it, I'm already all cheery, but you were all sad, sitting here brooding. So I thought, what would make me happy when I'm sad, and I thought that I like pretty things like flowers, so I went and got it for you so that you can feel better,” she explained, making the men chuckle, the wavy haired sadly, and the floppy haired one with fondness. ”What ever it is that's making you sad isn't here right now, so you should smile and enjoy the sunshine before it rains again.”

”Do you think it'll rain today?” asked the floppy haired man.

”Yes,” she answered with conviction. ”It's the bloody London weather, as mum says.”

”Such a pretty little lady shouldn't swear,” the floppy haired man said as he put the dandelion Rose had given him though a buttonhole, like a boutonniere.

Rose shrugged. ”Mum doesn't mind as long as I don't do it too much or at school. But the flower's for you, not me,” she told the wavy haired man, laying it on his knee. ”I've got to go before mum notices me talking to strangers, I don't want to get grounded,” she said and turned away, waiving as she ran back to Mickey in the sand box.

'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'

The Doctor watched his younger self carefully pocket the dandelion, knowing he'd soon go back to the TARDIS and place it in a preserver. Unfortunately it would be lost two Earth weeks later when the TARDIS had to burn up some rooms for extra power. At the time it hadn't meant much, it just had been a nice memento of the kind girl child who'd managed to cheer him up despite the Time War, a reminder of why he fought in the first place, but now that he knew who the girl was...

The Doctor looked down at his dandelion. Trying to cheer up two sorry looking strangers was just so... so Rose that he... he didn't know what it did, but it increased the longing for her even more. It didn't really help that he hadn't been there to see her, he'd been tracking Clara Oswin Oswald's childhood, but apparently they had been at the same park on the same day at the same time, though Clara was a year or two younger than the seven-year-old Rose.

”She's going to be fantastic,” he said quietly to himself, petting the soft petals with his thumb.

”Certainly seems so,” the younger Doctor answered absently.

The Doctor smiled at him. ”You'll know one day, Doctor,” he said and stood up, patting him on the shoulder. ”Hang in there,” he told him and started the walk back to TARDIS. Now, where did he put that movable preserver he brought from Tarra? He ought to get the dandelion into it as soon as possible, the first and last thing he'd receive from Rose Tyler, forever in bloom on the console.


End file.
